University of Michigan Basketball Scandal

The University of Michigan basketball scandal or Ed Martin scandal was a six-year investigation of the relationship between the University of Michigan, its men's basketball teams and basketball team booster Ed Martin. As a result of the investigation, the Wolverine men's basketball program was punished for numerous National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) rules violations, principally involving payments booster Martin made to several players to launder money from an illegal gambling operation. It is one of the largest incidents involving payments to college athletes in American collegiate history. An initial investigation by the school was joined by the NCAA, Big Ten Conference, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Internal Revenue Service (IRS), and the United States Department of Justice (DOJ).

The case began when the investigation of an automobile accident during Mateen Cleaves' 1996 recruiting trip revealed a curious relationship between Martin and the Wolverine basketball program dating back to the 1980s. Several Michigan basketball players were implicated over the next few years and by 1999 some were called before a federal grand jury. Four eventual professional basketball players—Chris Webber, Maurice Taylor, Robert Traylor and Louis Bullock—were discovered to have borrowed a total of $616,000 from Martin. During the investigation, Webber claimed not to have had any financial relationship with Martin, but eventually confessed to taking loans from Martin. He was both fined in the legal system and briefly suspended by the National Basketball Association after performing public service.

In 1997, coach Steve Fisher was fired for his involvement in violations relating to the scandal. However, subsequently, the NCAA investigation did not find him culpable of significant wrongdoing related to the scandal. By the fall of 2002, it was obvious that the four players were in fact guilty of taking money from Martin, and had thus compromised their amateur status. In response, Michigan placed the basketball program on two years' probation. It also withdrew from postseason consideration for the 2002–03 season, vacated all or part of five past seasons and removed the players' names and achievements from its record book. A few months later, the NCAA accepted these punishments, doubled both the probation period and the post-season ineligibility, penalized the school one scholarship for four seasons, and ordered Michigan to disassociate from the three living guilty players until 2012 (Webber's ban extends another year ending in 2013, and a fourth player included in this sanction, Traylor, has since died). The punishment cost the 2002–2003 team its post-season eligibility, cost past teams the 1997 National Invitation Tournament and the 1998 Big Ten Tournament championships as well as appearances in the 1992 and 1993 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament Final Fours. It cost Chris Webber his All-American 1993 honors, Traylor his MVP awards in the 1997 NIT and 1998 Big Ten Tournament, as well as Bullock's standing as the school's third all-time leading scorer and all-time leader in free throws and the Big Ten's all-time leader in 3-point field goals (surpassed in 2011). The additional year of post-season ineligibility was overturned on appeal. Mandatory disassociations with the surviving players ended on May 8, 2013.

Read more about University Of Michigan Basketball Scandal:  Background, Martin's Relationship With The Program, Raid and Subpoenas, Fallout, Expiration of Disassociation, Notes

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